I was very excited to hear about this however I'm concerned that this service seems to be in limbo. I called tech support and they haven't even heard of this feature, which wasn't promising.

Could Ooma please let us know the status of this feature? Is it cancelled or is Ooma still planning on releasing it at some point? I don't expect a date, just a confirmation that you're still planning on releasing it.

Wayne's guess is when the Telo comes out, which may be correct. Also though, there's supposed to be a big web site re-do the end of this month. I'm assuming the web site re-do does not correspond with the Telo timing, but either time frame would seem reasonable.

Personally I don't find it at all surprising that tech support isn't aware at this point. I doubt they'd get too much notice before a feature like this is released. They support what is out already, they don't have much need to know what is coming out in the future. If the voice extension is still being developed, why confuse tech support on how it "may" work in the future?

I was comparing the features of Google Voice and ooma Premier. It seems like they kind of overlap. What it means is that the Google Voice extension is going to pull people away from paying for ooma Premier. That is my speculation of ooma's unwillingness to roll this out too soon.

chuenl wrote:I was comparing the features of Google Voice and ooma Premier. It seems like they kind of overlap. What it means is that the Google Voice extension is going to pull people away from paying for ooma Premier. That is my speculation of ooma's unwillingness to roll this out too soon.

Your speculation is not very well founded in reality. Read Dennis Peng's blog entry:

With ooma Premier’s Google Voice Extensions, we can automatically show your Google Voice caller-ID when you make a call, no need to use the web site or call into Google Voice just to do that. You can also check your Google Voice messages with a touch of a button, just like using an answering machine. And with ooma, you don’t need to pick up your phone to hear who is calling. We’ll play the announcement and message over the speaker for you - pick up the phone only if you really want to answer. Finally, if you don’t want to go through the hassle of switching to yet another new phone number, use your existing ooma number (or port your number to ooma) and we’ll forward it to Google Voice.

You see, the extensions are PART of Premier. And although there is some overlap, there is an even greater opportunity for a seamless experience for the user. I've been very happy using GV for a front end for my ooma system - but I can't wait for the extensions. In fact, it is what will drive me to finally become a Premier subscriber.

southsound - Just curious... you use your GV number as your main number at this point? That is the number everyone has and calls you with? I have a GV number, but haven't given it out since I have already changed my number once when I purchased Ooma. Everyone would hate me if I changed it again in less than a year. But then, it would be nice to use GV extensions and other GV features.

Does anyone know if once the GV extensions are implemented, will we be able to use our Ooma number as the GV number. I ported my old number, which I have had for many years, to Ooma and prefer not to have to change it. Just wondering.

hpepper, yes, I do use my GV number as our main number. I was having people call several numbers before - my cell won't work consistently at our home, although there are portions of the property where it is great. I used to forward that number to our home number but changed from Veriozon to Net10 for my famous "$5.50 per month cell service" so I discontinued the forwarding. I promoted the change to the GV number by saying, "Now you can finally reach us on the first call!" I also left a message on our landline to use the new GV number. No complaints but a lot of requests for GV accounts so my friends could do what I've been doing.

hackerguy, I believe you will be able to use your ooma number with GV seamlessly. Here is what Dennis Peng had to say in his blog:

Finally, if you don’t want to go through the hassle of switching to yet another new phone number, use your existing ooma number (or port your number to ooma) and we’ll forward it to Google Voice.

WayneDSR, if you had been bribing the Google folks with those wonderful walnut brownies, they might have fixed your service in under 24 hours. Especially if you included the requisite vanilla bean ice cream.